The automobile is one of the key inventions in the modern world. It allows people to travel long distances easily and quickly. This opens up a lot of new possibilities for work and leisure time. It has also opened up many new places that were inaccessible before. It has become a major part of our everyday life and a symbol for the promise of the modern world.

There are many different cars in the world today. Some are electric, others use gasoline and some have a combination of both. Most of these cars use an internal combustion engine to drive the wheels. The engine burns a fuel to make it run, then the energy is used to move the car.

The modern automobile is a complex technical system with specialized subsystems that have specific design functions. These subsystems often require sophisticated materials and manufacturing techniques such as high-strength plastics, advanced alloys of steel and nonferrous metals, and electronic control systems. The automotive industry is the largest user of petroleum and one of the biggest consumers of steel and other industrial products. It also has an impact on the world economy through the jobs it creates and the money it spends. It is also a source of pollution and a drain on the world’s limited oil supply.

The first automobiles were very expensive, but by the 1920s Henry Ford had invented the moving assembly line to make them affordable to the middle class. In 1924 Charlotte got its own Ford plant, and the city is now a center of automobile production.